The present invention relates to a visor assembly and particularly to a control for returning and holding the visor to a stored position.
Visor assemblies for use in vehicles such as automobiles typically use a friction mechanism between the pivot rod and the visor body to allow the visor to be adjusted to a desired rotational position about the visor rod and held in that position. The friction mechanism must however permit relatively easy adjustment of the visor and yet hold the visor in a desired position. When the visor is in a stored position pivoted upwardly against the vehicle's headliner, frequently as the vehicles travel along the highway, the visor can, with such frictional devices slip down from the stored position thereby becoming not only somewhat unsightly, but also if lowered to a sufficient degree, can become a safety hazard to passengers within the vehicle in the event of an accident.
Some lightweight visors, such as European type visors, are of wire rod frame construction and filled with foam material. Such a visor is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,054, and employs a lightweight U-shaped clip which extends between the visor body and the visor pivot rod and bears against flat surfaces on the pivot rod to assist in holding the visor in a stored position. Although such construction is helpful for holding such lightweight (about 13 ounces) visors in a stored position, the relatively lightweight spring clip is not effective in returning the visor to the stored position. Such construction would not be effective in maintaining heavier visors (i.e. about 2 pounds) such as those which include a lighted mirror assembly in a stored position let alone, return such a visor to the stored position as it is moved in the direction of the headliner.